Not This Time…

What a busy week! That first one back to work after a vacation is always crazy I guess; but I really worked my fingers to the bone and I'm very happy that the weekend is here! While I love a productive week, I did get some sad news from my director and I thought I would share it all with you.

As you know, my commute to Boston is 72 miles each way. It's not ideal of course, but I love the work that I do so much and the people that I work with even more and that makes it easier. Also, in this economy, I'm darn grateful to be able to work and collect a paycheck when so many people don't have that good fortune and are struggling just to put food on the table. But when my director pulled me into her office several months ago and told me that we had applied for a federal grant to open a satellite location in Plymouth, just thirty miles from my home, I was beyond thrilled. Not only would I cut 82 miles per day off of my commute, but I would get to start a health center from the ground up, something I've always dreamed of.

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So over the last six months, I started living in my financial fantasy world. Having my new (used) car, I've saved $20 per week in gas, bringing my weekly cost to $80. If I worked closer to home, I could probably shave another $25 per week and that would put an extra $100 per month back in my pocket. This $100 would go directly to paying off my student loans and I could pay them off earlier than expected. Next, I thought, I would be home at a normal hour and could maybe pick up a little second job on the couple of nights per week that my kids were at their dad's.

Then came the fight in Washington over the debt ceiling and the much-needed budget cuts. Guess what? In all of their cutting and chopping, they decided not to fund any new health centers in my state of Massachusetts. There went my dreams of starting a newborn health center, having extra money in my budget and well….sleeping in!

It's okay. Not this time, but my organizational leaders are fighters and dreamers and doers. I have faith. All of this will get easier!

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